Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What is Jeremy Duns reading?

I used to devour spy novels, but now that I write them most of my reading is non-fiction, for research. My books are set during the Cold War, but in the last few weeks I've mainly been reading memoirs related to World War Two. One of these was For He Is An Englishman, the autobiography of Charles Arnold-Baker or Wolfgang von Blumenthal. 'Or' because the author was born a Prussian nobleman, but ended up becoming more English than the English. Published in 2007, it's an account of his long and fascinating life from his childhood through Oxford University, and a career as a barrister, academic, historian and spy. Unsurprisingly, I was most interested in the spying, but I hadn't realized there would be any when I bought it: I was interested in details of his school life.

In 1943, having already been in charge of a platoon that guarded Winston Churchill, Arnold-Baker joined...[read on]

Jeremy Duns' Paul Dark trilogy begins with Free Agent, which was published by Viking in hardback in June 2009; Free Country is due to be published next year, and Free World in 2011.

"A sleek, fast-paced tale of espionage and international intrigue that held me utterly entranced. Duns is an exceptional talent. As I rapidly turned the pages I was transported back to the heyday of spy fiction and reminded of the best of le Carre, Deighton and Forsyth. Recommended without reservation."--Christopher Reich, author of Rules of Deception

"Terse, sardonic and knowing, FREE AGENT is a take-no-prisoners exploration of loyalty, duplicity and love. I dare anyone to put this book down after reading the first electrifying chapter."--Eric von Lustbader, author of First Daughter